Earth Girls’ “14 Years” gives spring a necessary shot in the arm

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing. This week, we’re plowing through some of our favorite songs for spring.

Though it’s had its fair share of false starts and fake-outs, it finally seems as if Chicago has broken winter’s hold and inched thermometers toward something resembling spring. A pair of days that broke 60 degrees saw me donning shorts for the first time in months, and biking around the city blasting summertime songs felt like requisite behavior. It was hard not to take full advantage of the city’s warming glow, and the experience was made all the more joyous when coupled with the five-song demo from Chicago’s Earth Girls.

Earth Girls features familiar faces for those that keep up with punk and hardcore–vocalist Liz Panella fronted Boston’s Libyans before relocating to Chicago and joining Broken Prayer, and that band that features Boilerman’s Joey Kappel, both of which turn up in Earth Girls. Unlike their other outings, Earth Girls serve as an outlet for their neurotic, garage-punk gesticulations, and there’s not a bum song in the batch. While the whole EP is aplomb with pop-punk tendencies, it’s the danceable tendecies of “14 Years” that marry it to sun-drenched spring days.

The declarative snare snaps of Jeff Rice kick it off, quickly allowing Kappel’s wandering bass line to serve as the backbone allowing Panella’s guitar to slice through the commotion. When the bridge hits with a simplistic solo and background ooohs, the song radiates, allowing it to feel like a punk song out of time. Its wholesome harmonies could just as easily serve as the soundtrack to a ’60s sock hop, where teens twist together before splitting a chocolate malt. It’s a no-brainer that premier hardcore label Grave Mistake Records would snag the band and quickly put its debut 7-inch into production, because with songs this breezy it’s best they hit while summer’s still shimmying.